Mapillary

THE CHALLENGE

Identify usability issues and task flow problems that users face in the app.

Even though Mapillary had a wide range of users (among them very committed members of the OSM community, commercial clients and people simply exploring the world), their user retention was low.

Our task was to identify usability issues and task flow problems that users face when using Mapillary.

Other Mapillary features include computer vision on the server-side that automatically matches and combines photos across time and users.

In addition, photos are processed with privacy, blurring faces and license plates. Finally, Mapillary provides both commercial and private APIs so that others can build solutions using the extracted data.

Even though Mapillary had a wide range of users (among them very committed members of the OSM community, commercial clients and people simply exploring the world), their user retention was low.

Our task was to identify usability issues and task flow problems that users face when using Mapillary.

The analysis

Knowing that Mapillary’s purpose and usership expands the entire globe, we knew from the start that Remote Moderated Research (RMR) was going to be used.

To prepare for this, as with any UX research, the first step was to perform a standard SWOT analysis comparing Mapillary to its competitors. What are the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats that affect their platform?

The SWOT analysis provided us with the first glimpse at user motivation. We then expanded on this by creating a persona profile that would help us empathize with, and identify the behaviors of, Mapillary users.

We were able to describe users as people who are committed to the community, technology oriented and open data advocates. With this knowledge we easily formulated the research tasks for the Remote Moderated Research (RMR).

The Method

For Mapillary we conducted Remote Moderated Research (RMR) in the form of usability tests via video chat and screen sharing software.

Given the fact that Mapillary’s purpose and usership expands the entire globe, RMR just made sense.

This method allowed for us to:

Recruit users faster and easier from such a large pool of candidates

Test users from different parts of the world and obtain a wider variety of insights

Gain understanding of how people actually use the app on their own devices